Division Zero: Thrall (60 page)

ren?” Captain Eze’s voice was just loud enough to encroach upon her sobbing.

Kirsten pushed herself off the floor, sniffling. She stared up at him with such a pathetic expression he ran over and took a knee.

“Are you alright? What happened?”

“It was Konstantin.” She wiped her face, unable to stop crying. “He’s got Evan.”

Eze gathered her in his arms and carried her to the sofa. “Collect yourself, Kirsten. We’ll find the son of a bitch. Don’t mourn someone who isn’t dead.”

She sat up straight, fists on knees, inhaling deep breaths.

Captain Jonathan Eze walked to the wall panel and put a hand on it. His comforting brown eyes faded to flat white. The sound of additional police units shuffling down the hallway got Kirsten to her feet. She looked down at herself, embarrassed by the revealing way the silk draped on her body. She kept her arms clamped tight over her chest and paced a figure eight.

Two Division 1 officers entered, giving her a head-tilt.

Eze snapped out of his trance and moved to Kirsten’s side in two strides, resting a hand on her shoulder.

“Kirsten, it’s not what you think.” He smiled. “Building security system recorded gang thugs attacking them. Nila held them off, the kids ran.”

“Gang punks? Why the hell would gang punks come after Nila at home?”

Eze waved at the Div 1 cops. “There’s a body in that hall, secure the area and don’t let anyone out of the building.”

“Sir.” The closer one nodded and moved into the apartment while talking over his comm.

“I don’t know…” Eze looked at the wall.

“What is it? Why are you hesitating?”

“I got the feeling they were after the kids more than her.”

A sudden wave of inexplicable panic washed over Kirsten, sapping the energy from her legs and sending her onto the couch. Her head snapped up, tears streaming out of the corners of her eyes.

“Evan needs me. He’s terrified. He…” She stared into space. “He’s in the basement.”

“How―”

“He’s calling me.” She leapt up and sprinted, pulling the robe to her thighs so she could move.

With a fistful of silk, she darted through the corridor toward the elevators. She did not care who saw what as she zoomed past a dozen officers from Divisions 1 and 0 in a mass of fluttering black fabric. She shoved a middle-aged man into the wall to beat him to the elevator, smashing the B on the console with the grip of her E-90.

“I’m really sorry, police emergency.”

The doors hissed closed. Kirsten jumped up and down, trying to kick the elevator into a faster descent. Both hands clung to her weapon, aimed at the frigid floor between her feet. She shook, though she could not tell if it was due to cold, fear, worry, shame, or anger. So much had happened to her over the past few hours, her mind spun in place.

When the door opened, she jumped through and ran toward a body. A young man in a tattered vest, dark pants, and mismatched boots lay dead on his face against the wall. The smell in the air said ‘death by laser.’
Nila came this way. Oh, please let her have found him.
She ran past the corpse, headed for two pairs of doors at the end of the corridor. The one on the left was open already, and she went that way. The urge to yell for Nila or Evan came on strong, but she checked her emotion―she might need the element of surprise.

A short stairway led into the dark; a heavyset man lay on the ground near the bottom on his chest. Despite having his arms trapped behind him in police binders, he seemed calm. At the sight of Kirsten, he did a double take. She ignored the confusion on his face and stepped over him. A few paces later, she grimaced at the stickiness of the floor, and threw desperate glances at four possible ways to go. Left, right, or two forward passages between rows of enormous machines.

Gunshots.

The muzzle flare was strongest to her right, but sounded distant. She went for the straight-ahead aisle on that side. Green light flashed; the hum of a laser firing overwhelmed the machinery for an instant. Kirsten sprinted hard down the narrow passageway and almost wiped out as she rounded the corner. She stopped short at the sight of Nila squatting on the far side of a dead man, with two relieved children clinging to her.

“Evan…” Kirsten wanted to shout, but only made a whimper.

“Mommy!” he cheered, and ran to her.

Kirsten fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around the shivering boy. For a moment, Evan held her upright as she let her weight lean on him. All his terror and tears evaporated in an instant. He bounced, squeezed, and cuddled.

Nila picked her daughter up and carried her over, glancing at the sound of more police flooding the basement. “The heavy guy at the steps surrendered.”

“He didn’t wanna shoot us,” said Shani.

Evan peeled away from Kirsten’s chest to make eye contact. “Yeah, he tried to change Zee’s mind.” He furrowed his brow. “Why are you dressed up like Xiana?”

She went crimson. “Uhh, someone stole my clothes. This was all I could find.”

Nila gave her an inquisitive glance.
What the fuck happened?

Kirsten found the floor rather interesting.
Oh, not much. I almost had sex with a seventy-year-old man, wound up naked in a dungeon… you know, the usual bad shit that happens every time I wear high heels.

With a grimace, Nila shivered.
I’m sorry I asked.

I feel like such an idiot, Nila.
Kirsten sniffled; her impending sadness came to a screeching halt as her brain at last processed Evan knowing the dead man’s name.

“Zee?” Kirsten blinked and twisted around to look at the corpse. “You know this son of a bitch?”

She went the other way at the sound of clicking. Zee’s spirit stood a few feet away attempting to fire a spectral gun at Evan.

“The drug guy from Sector D, you remember? The one Shani pantsed. In the cartoon underwear?”

The ghost snarled.

“Oh,” said Kirsten, eyes narrowing. “Him. Didn’t he go to jail?”

“It was just drug charges and assault on a chem-user. He probably did a week and got out. Overcrowding.” Nila grumbled.

Kirsten stood, keeping a hand on Evan’s shoulder. Shani shivered at a sudden chill in the air while Nila raised an eyebrow.

“Is he still here?” asked Evan.

Kirsten beckoned for
them
. “Not for much longer.”

Clouds of mist washed over the hood of the black patrol craft as it came in for a landing in front of the Five Hundredth Street Sanctuary. A handful of people in line for free food waved at Kirsten as she got out and adjusted her utility belt. Never before had a hot shower felt so good, even a rushed one after a medical evaluation. Not content to wait for her to open the back door, Evan climbed into the front seat and joined her outside the car.

Nila, now in her tactical armor, stretched and let Shani out of the rear passenger door on that side. Despite the current situation, Kirsten could not hold back the giggle at the kitten mewls coming from the girl’s sneakers as she ran to her mother. The dire look Nila gave Kirsten only made her laugh louder.

“Thanks for that, by the way. She saw your Nomz and
had
to have them. I hear little electronic cats in my sleep now.”

Shani, with a big grin, shifted her weight from leg to leg to keep them meowing.

“I dunno. It is kind of cute that the kid-sized ones sound like kittens.”

I’m going to find the most obnoxious toy I can find and give it to Evan for his birthday.

Kirsten laughed again and led the way into the building. “I hope this will only be for a few hours, maybe a day or so. Father Villera has agreed to let you stay.”

“I never thought you’d drag people to church,” said Nila, with an eye roll. “You don’t seriously buy this crap do you?”

“I don’t know anymore.” Kirsten smiled at a man who moved to create a gap in the line for them to get in. “I do know there is at least enough to it that abyssals won’t walk in here.”

“I guess… if you think so.” Nila held tight to Shani’s hand. The girl seemed uncomfortable around so many vagrants.

“The bad ghosts don’t like it here,” said Evan. “I pushed one in with the car and she ‘sploded.”

Father Villera came around from behind the food-serving table and walked them into the back, indicating a room with two cots and a desk. Shani was all too happy to get out of public view and dove on the left-side bed. Nila folded her arms, remaining in the doorway where Evan clung to Kirsten.

“I don’t know how I got to you before his men showed up.” She ran her hand over his hair. “Maybe those gang idiots scared them off. Stay here with Nila until its safe.”

Evan looked up at her, eyes wide. “The bad ghosts can’t get in here, but what if he just sends people?”

Kirsten patted Nila on the arm. “That’s why Nila’s here…” She thought for a moment and raised her forearm guard. Within a few seconds, Captain Eze’s hologram appeared. “Captain, can you request a Div Six security detail? I’ve found a place where they are safe from demons, but Konstantin might still send ordinary thugs. Most of the security men at his estate were normal.”

Eze glanced left for a second. “You’re at the church on 500
^th
street?”

“Yes, sir, abyssals can’t get in here. They’re safe if he sends one of his pets, but he’s also got a lot of money and resources. He could send ordinary mercenaries, maybe even a borg.”

“Alright, consider it done. The raid found no trace of Konstantin at the manor. Nine is getting ready to go after him at a property belonging to Koloss Venture Capital. They’ve got activity inside on the sensors and the senior-in-command has requested you on-site to handle anything… weird.”

Kirsten crushed a gasp out of Evan. “Understood, sir. Do I have time to wait for Six to get here? I don’t…”

“It’s okay, Mom. I don’t feel scared. Don’t let him get away.” He squirmed up and kissed her on the cheek.

She held back the urge to cry. “Tell them I’m on the way.”

Nila put a hand on Kirsten’s shoulder as the light from Eze’s hologram flickered out. “Go get that bastard.”

Evan folded his arms and nodded. “I’ll keep them safe.”

van’s last comment kept Kirsten on the verge of tears for the entire ride to the nav pin. She wrung her hands on the control sticks, alternating between shivering worry and seething anger. The image of Evan’s confident smile and bright hazel eyes would not leave her mind. All she wanted to do was go home, plant him in her lap and watch Monwyn vids until he was grown up.